Four years ago when I was a boy of 11, I got into the biggest trouble as a kid. It was a Saturday morning. Both my parents were out, leaving me and my 10-month-old sister alone. Anyway, my sister was still asleep in her room. In fact I had the house to myself. I decided to do some drawing. Soon I gave up. Nothing was on TV, so I felt bored and touched the candles on the shelf … I had an idea! What would happen if I set fire to some kitchen paper? Well, of course it went on fire, but it wasn’t the tiny flame (火焰) as I’d expected, and it was not an easy thing for a boy of 11 to blow it out. I threw it on the floor, and then luckily got my dad’s boots (靴子) and stamped it out.

Although I thought I was safe, there was a big hole in my room. When my mum came home later, she smelt the smoke immediately. Luckily she dropped the shopping bag over the hole. I thought this meant she would never see it. However, after running round the house checking for a fire, she of course picked up the bag and saw the hole. Next I was grounded (关禁闭) and in trouble for months. Even though, the hole was still there, reminding me of what I did.

Some people have a very poor sense (感觉) of directions. Unluckily, I am one of them. I have visited a place many times but I may still get lost there the next time.

When I was a little girl, I didn’t dare to ask strangers the way. So I used to walk around in circles and hope that by chance I would get to the place I was going to.

Now, I am no longer too shy to ask people for directions, but I often receive helpless or even wrong information. So I try to avoid giving people wrong directions. If anyone ever asks me the way somewhere, I would say, “Sorry, I am a stranger here.”

Once on my way to work I was stopped by a man. He asked me if I could tell him the way to the Friendship Building. I gave him my usual reply. But just as I walked on only a few steps, I realized that he had asked the way to my office building. However, I had no time to turn back and look for him. I was rushing to meet with someone at my office and I didn’t want to keep him waiting.

When I just got to my office, the secretary (秘书) showed in the man who had asked me for directions. Imagine how ________ I was and how surprised he was when we saw each other at the first sight.

Last Sunday morning, I had a yard sale with my sister. We set up a long table in the yard and placed many old things on it. We made a poster (海报) to tell people that we wanted to raise some money for a student in our school. The student was ill but her parents didn’t have enough money to take her to hospital.

Maybe because of our kindness, our sale went very well. We were very happy because the fewer old things we left, the more money we could raise for the student. Just then, a boy came to our sale. He looked at many things and finally picked a necklace (项链). “How much is this?” he asked. “Twenty,” I answered.

He took out some coins from his pocket and counted. Then he asked us, “Could I have it for 15 yuan? This is all I have.” We wondered why the boy wanted to buy a necklace. So I said, “Why do you want to buy it?” “Tomorrow is my mother’s birthday. I want to give this nice necklace to her as a gift. At the same time, I can also do something for the student who needs help. I think my mother will be happy about what I do.”

My sister and I were both moved by him. So we decided to let the boy buy it for 15 yuan. After saying thanks to us, he went away with the necklace happily. And we were happy, too.